Deepika Padukone looked pristine in a full-skirted white dress at a presser to announce the launch of her new film Aarakshan on December 22.
Deepika's belted dress had buttons in the front, ruffle detail on neck and elbow length sleeves.
The 24-year-old accessorized with glossy tan pumps, hoop earrings and stacked bangles. Her medium brown colored hair was styled half up half down with a side parting. She wore winged eyeliner and bronze lipstick. Also attending the event were Deepika's co-stars Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan and Prateik Babbar; director Prakash Jha and producer Firoz Nadiadwala. Bachchan plays a college principal in the film and Deepika his daughter, in the two stars' first screen appearance together. Jha reportedly picked Deepika for the role because her lanky looks are not unlike those of Bachchan's real life daughter Shweta Nanda. Deepika also co-stars with Prateik for the first time in the film and was seen chatting him up at the event. Saif, who plays a backward class student in the film, was paired with Deepika in Imtiaz Ali's Love Aaj Kal (2009). The film focuses on the issue of reservations. Set in Bhopal, Aarakshan is a take on the violence that followed the implementation of Mandal commission recommendations to reserve a large percentage of jobs for the backward class. Filming will start on January 15, 2011 in Bhopal, where Jha earlier lensed Rajneeti; release is scheduled for August 11, 2011.
